SEÁNIE JOHNSTON has revealed how gambling ‘crazy money’ helped him forget the Kildare transfer saga in which he was caught up.

The former Cavan skipper forced through a controversial inter-county switch to Kildare in 2012 after being axed by the Breffni Blues.

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Johnston admitted his ‘ego was massively hit’ and was ‘badly hurt’ after being dropped by then-boss Val Andrews.

But he was shocked to be paired with his native Cavan in a qualifier tie just months later.

He came on in that game at Breffni Park to score a point for the Lilywhites.

The ex-attacker returned to play for Cavan following a two-year spell with Kildare and recently coached his county.

And the Cavan Gaels clubman now has his eyes on managing them.

Speaking on the BBC’s GAA Social podcast, Johnston said his period with Kildare had a ‘profound effect’ on him — but that he believes he is a better person for it.

He explained: “I’ve never gone into the detail of saying that I wasn’t OK.

“It brought me on a course of doing things that I shouldn’t have been doing in terms of, eh . . . gambling being one.

“When I was gambling I wasn’t thinking of the transfer.

“I remember I was in a mate’s house and he said, ‘We’ll put 15 dollars into a Paddy Power account and play blackjack.

“And that’s what it was, €15 or $15. I lost. I went home and it was back to the, ‘This isn’t going to beat me’ mentality and I put €30 in.

“Within a couple of weeks I remember sitting in the house one night at half two and I had €200 on Gael Monfils to win a tennis match and a double with Vasco da Gama to beat a Brazilian soccer team.

“I was going, ‘I’m in a bit of a hole’.

“When I say gambling is not an issue for me . . . I don’t feel it is an issue for me now.

“Maybe that’s naive of me but I wouldn’t go into a bookies.

“I was playing blackjack for crazy amounts of money. It was €200 a hand.

“The problem with online gambling is that it goes out of your account straight away but it doesn’t go into it for about three days when you win.

“I spent the whole time looking at my online banking account going, ‘Oh my God’, because it’s all going down until you win and that won’t go in for a couple of days.”

TRYING TIME

Asked if there was a direct link between the transfer furore and the gambling, Johnston suggested there was.

He said: “Well, I can’t say that was the only reason that I did it.

“But in my head, I was trying to forget stuff. It gave me an unbelievable buzz.

“It was amazing and it was dangerous. I was doing it in places where you’re not meant to — like work.”

Father-of-four Johnston said he was fortunate not to be left with debt as a result of the gambling.

He said: “I got very lucky. I won a lot of what I lost back in one big scoop over a day or two and I stopped.”

REGRET OVER SWITCH

He then returned to play for Cavan and has recently coached his native county.

But he admits he should not have pushed through his move to Kildare.

He conceded: “The most important point for me to say, and it’s probably something I haven’t been forthcoming with, is to say I was wrong in a lot of things I did.

“It’s took me until 2023 to admit it. I was 25 or 26 then and worked my backside off.

“In my head, to be the best player I could possibly be . . . I got too big for my boots. That’s the first thing I would say.

“And I was hurt. I was badly hurt and my ego was massively hit. Then you get into a situation where things spiralled.”